National Minority Quality Forum awarded $500,000 grant to conduct cancer research in Flint

LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) has awarded the National Minority Quality Forum a grant to oversee a feasibility assessment for research and to conduct community engagement and educational activities in the City of Flint.

“We are pleased to award National Minority Quality Forum to oversee this feasibility assessment for research that is very important to the Flint community,” said Elizabeth Hertel, MDHHS director. “Through this work, the community of Flint will be informed and engaged in the process to identify questions they want answered about cancer related to environmental contamination and how those questions could be answered using scientific research.”

This grant is part of MDHHS’ continuing response to ongoing community concerns regarding cancer and environmental contamination in the City of Flint. With this grant, the National Minority Quality Forum will do the following, with involvement from the Flint community:

– Design and implement an RFP that will fund a subgrantee to perform a feasibility assessment of an environmental epidemiology cancer study for the City of Flint.
– Oversee the completion of the feasibility assessment.
– Ensure community engagement and communication activities in the City of Flint are conducted for all program activities.

The National Minority Quality Forum will receive a total of $500,000 over three years to complete this work. A Washington D.C.-based nonprofit, National Minority Quality Forum is a nonpartisan organization that integrates data and expertise in support of initiatives to eliminate health disparities.